Hell and back: On the road with the pandemic
Green Templeton Lectures 2022
Thursday 10 February 2022 17:30Speakers: | Barkha Dutt |
Location: | EP Abraham Lecture Theatre and Online |
What the virus taught us about equality, freedom and journalism
Using her extensive ground level experience reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Barkha Dutt’s lecture will focus on how COVID-19 spawned a new social order, exposed entrenched inequities, revealed deep-seated prejudice and called out attention to the invisibility of the world’s poorest citizens. COVID-19 was often described as the ‘great equaliser’. Barkha Dutt will argue why, in truth, the exact opposite has happened.
About the speaker
Barkha Dutt is one of India’s best known journalists with over two decades of reporting experience from some of the most dangerous conflict zones of the world. She is the winner of over 40 national and international awards including the World Economic Forum’s Global Leader for Tomorrow. In 2020 and 2021 at the height of the pandemic and during the world’s largest lockdown, she traveled across India by road, covering 30,000 kilometres to report on the COVID pandemic. Her path breaking ground reportage earned her global acclaim. She is a columnist with the Washington Post and Hindustan times and the Founding Editor of digital platform, Mojo Story. She is a Visiting Fellow at Reuters Institute, Oxford University.
Green Templeton Lectures 2022
The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the critical role journalism can play in disseminating vital information while holding power to account and highlighting the voices of people who are not always heard.
The pandemic has also raised the profile of scientists, who have been called on to stand next to politicians and explain complex, fast-changing data sets to the general public. They have had to ask entire populations to change their behaviours in fundamental ways and have had to deal with heightened public and media scrutiny of their private lives, as well as their work.
This series of lectures will look at the interplay between journalism and science, draw out lessons that can be learned and look at how scientists and journalists can effectively communicate the challenges ahead.
The Green Templeton Lectures 2022 are sponsored by Oxford PharmaGenesis, an independent, award-winning HealthScience communications consultancy. Its colleagues work globally, connected by a unique culture of integrity and compassion. Together, they help their clients bring evidence-based treatments to patients in areas of unmet medical need.
More information
For more information on this lecture, please contact events@gtc.ox.ac.uk.
